hey i'm new here, but was i plan on making a mage that uses; Restoration, Conjuration and one-handed skills, but wasn't sure if it's best to take the alteration tree for armor as a battlemage/ spellsword (sorry i don't really know the differance between them) or whether i should take light armor/ heavy armor (would prefer light armor), i was just thinking.. If i took light armor, to get the really good light armor i'd have to preferably take smithing, and i do plan on taking enchanting i cba with smithing considering i've already got a high leveled warrior and that's kinda his thing and for a mage would feel like i wasted points on that tree.. if that makes sense.

if i took light armor i coud enchant it with beneficial enchants but i get kinda bored of the same armor after a certain amount of time lol, and wasn't sure if glass armor or daedric armor etc. could be bought later on, so yeah, little confused as to what to do and what the better option would be. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Battlemages usually wear Heavy. Also not many aesthetically pleasing light armor out there.

do you think it'd be best to go heavy armour or alteration/robes path? I'm trying to mix it up a bit because i had a destro mage in the past.

Many of my past Battlemages used Alteration to buff their defences and for the magic resistance.

but isn't alteration's defense spells only properly effective if no armor is worn?

That's true if you take the Mage Armor perks in the tree. Nothing wrong with giving you an extra 40 or 60 AR in battle.

so if i used heavy armor and invested points in that tree and used alteration, i would be better than alteration with no armor? o.o sorry i'm confusing myself now xD just trying to clear things up is all (:

Alteration is a bonus anyway. But if you are actively going to balance spells and melee combat, Heavy/Light armor + alteration will give you more survivability.

Pure mage-armored clothed alteration is better for pure mages as they don't engage in melee often. Mage-armor helps them survive hard-hitting melee attacks, but they try to avoid getting hit period.

I would still use alteration armor spells to compliment your armor, it wont give you tons of armor rating like it does on cloth users, but it still adds armor, and you can use it to boost your skill high enough to take the 3/3 magic resistance perk, that perk is amazing.

If you want to play more of a battlemage type character, I would go with heavy armor over light. In the end, both types are almost exactly the same, so just choose whatever looks cool and go with that.

As for skills, I would focus on your one-handed skill, block skill, armor skill, then for magic use conjuration, restoration, and a little alteration on the side. Illusion is very powerful, not just for the calm/frenzy spells, but also for the spells that buff your allies/minions, but if you dont want to use illusion, your build wont really suffer at all from it.

I would also strongly suggest enchanting, so you can enchant your armor to reduce the costs of spells and increase your weapon damage.

When you level up, I would ignore stamina alltogether, and put points into your magicka and health about evenly.

thanks that cleared up a lot although i did read somewhere that later levels illusion becomes really weak

Welcome to the boards.

The classic Battlemage wears heavy armor, and would specialise in Destruction magic. What you describe sounds more like a Sorcerer, who focus on Conjuration and use enchanted armour.

It dosn't necessarily need to be all heavy armour, though : why not wear a robe, along with some armoured boots, gauntlets and a helm? Perhaps just a cuirass? Partially armoured is, I think, more in keeping with the idea. You want to be armoured, but you're no Warrior, you're still really a Mage!

ok so skills wise it has been narrowed down to; Resto, Alter, Conjur, Heavy armor, one handed, enchanting, i might have to take smithing again if i want the better armor i suppose, is illusion a good idea? was told it's weak at higher levels but not really sure..

You'll be spreading yourself too thin if you take another skill tree.